J. Cole Says Interscope Executive Joie Manda Wants Him To Be "Dr. Dre To His Jimmy Iovine"

 

J. Cole says that he locked in his Dreamville label deal with Interscope Records in December.

J. Cole says he went into the meeting with Interscope Records executive Joie Manda that led to his Dreamville imprint with purely producer ambitions. 

“I thought he wanted me to produce someone over there and I was excited about that, but then he told me that he really believed in me as an executive, a label CEO and a producer,” J. Cole says during an interview with Billboard. "A Dr. Dre to his Jimmy Iovine. He had the vision.”

Rapper Bas is slated to release his Last Winter album March 6. It is scheduled to be Dreamville’s first official project through Interscope and will be available for purchases via iTunes and online for free.

J. Cole named Top Dawg Entertainment’s success with Kendrick Lamar as a reason he wanted to partner with Interscope. 

“They had a monster two years,” says J. Cole, who locked in his Dreamville label deal with Interscope Records in December. "I’m coming in at the right time. It’s a well-oiled machine. When they believe in something, they show it. They pull out all the stops. Every artist wants that kind of power, and if I can utilize that, it’s game over. Jimmy Iovine told me that no one turns a spark into a flame like Interscope, and that’s what made me choose them.”

Despite Dreamville’s deal with Interscope, J. Cole remains a recording artist with Roc Nation/Columbia.